Crystal Boyett just after she was given a 20 year sentence for the charge of manslaughter in the death of Connely Renee Burns.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Crystal Boyett just after she was given a 20 year sentence for the charge of manslaughter in the death of Connely Renee Burns.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

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The day after being found guilty of manslaughter, Crystal Boyett sits at the defense table waiting for Friday's session to begin.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

The day after being found guilty of manslaughter, Crystal Boyett sits at the defense table waiting for Friday's session to begin.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 3 of 14

Crystal Boyett exits the courtroom during break on the fourth day of her trial.
Photo taken Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Crystal Boyett exits the courtroom during break on the fourth day of her trial.
Photo taken Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 4 of 14

Crystal Boyett looks to her attorney shortly after the jury rendered a guilty verdict on Thursday. The jury deliberated for about an hour before giving their verdict.
Photo taken Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less

Crystal Boyett looks to her attorney shortly after the jury rendered a guilty verdict on Thursday. The jury deliberated for about an hour before giving their verdict.
Photo taken Wednesday, April 22, 2015 ... more

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 5 of 14

Image 6 of 14

Crystal Boyett just before she was given a 20 year sentence for the charge of manslaughter in the death of Connely Renee Burns.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Crystal Boyett just before she was given a 20 year sentence for the charge of manslaughter in the death of Connely Renee Burns.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 7 of 14

An officer places handcuffs on Crystal Boyett shortly after the jury rendered a guilty verdict on Thursday.
Photo taken Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

An officer places handcuffs on Crystal Boyett shortly after the jury rendered a guilty verdict on Thursday.
Photo taken Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 8 of 14

The day after being found guilty of manslaughter, Crystal Boyett sits at the defense table waiting for Friday's session to begin.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

The day after being found guilty of manslaughter, Crystal Boyett sits at the defense table waiting for Friday's session to begin.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 9 of 14

Crystal Boyett watches District Attorney David Sheffield enter the courtroom before day four of her trial stemming from the 2014 auto accident that killed three people in Lumberton.
Photo taken Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less

Crystal Boyett watches District Attorney David Sheffield enter the courtroom before day four of her trial stemming from the 2014 auto accident that killed three people in Lumberton.
Photo taken Wednesday, April ... more

Boyett is escorted from Judge Steve Thomas' courtroom Thursday after jurors found her guilty of manslaughter. The weeklong trial stemmed form the 2014 auto accident in Lumberton that killed Courtney Ray ... more

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 12 of 14

Tim Burns, right, address the media while Michael Sterling kisses his wife Dawn Sterling before leaving Crystal Boyett's sentencing at the Hardin County courthouse Friday. Boyett received 20 years for the death of the Sterling's daughter Connely Renee Burns, 20.
Photo taken Friday, April 24, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less

Tim Burns, right, address the media while Michael Sterling kisses his wife Dawn Sterling before leaving Crystal Boyett's sentencing at the Hardin County courthouse Friday. Boyett received 20 years for the death ... more

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 13 of 14

Family members of Courtney Ray Sterling, 15, Connely Renee Burns, 20, and Burns' unborn son, grieve after a jury found Crystal Boyett guilty of manslaughter on Thursday. Boyett was tried for the Burn's death from the 2014 auto accident in Lumberton.
Photo taken Thursday, April 23, 2015
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less

Family members of Courtney Ray Sterling, 15, Connely Renee Burns, 20, and Burns' unborn son, grieve after a jury found Crystal Boyett guilty of manslaughter on Thursday. Boyett was tried for the Burn's death ... more

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

Image 14 of 14

Boyett appeals conviction in fatal crash in 2014

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Crystal Boyett, a Kirbyville woman who killed two Lumberton sisters and an unborn baby in a February 2014 car crash, is appealing her conviction on the grounds a Hardin County judge did not have a physician determine her competency to stand trial.

In her appeal, filed with the Ninth Court of Appeals, Boyett also asserts that her constitutional right to testify on her behalf was violated when her trial attorney, Glen Crocker, prevented her from addressing the jury, according to her appeal brief.

On April 23, a jury of eight women and four men convicted Boyett, 42, of manslaughter for causing the Feb. 3, 2014, collision that killed Connely Sterling Burns, 20; her unborn son, Tyson; and her 15-year-old sister, Courtney Sterling.

On April 24, the same jury sentenced Boyett to 20 years in prison and to pay a $10,000 fine in Connely Burns death. By not trying all three cases together, prosecutors still could try Boyett in the other deaths.

Crocker tried unsuccessfully to halt the trial's proceedings

when he requested an emergency competency hearing, saying Boyett was mentally unfit to understand the charge against her.

Crocker called three witnesses, including Boyett's sister, to testify that Boyett suffers from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

Boyett's appeal, filed by Lumberton attorney James P. Spencer, contends she should have been examined by a psychiatrist before Thomas made his determination.

"At a minimum, the Appellant met the burden of a preponderance of the evidence by showing how her prior mental health history is an indicator of the reasons behind her current actions," the appeal brief states.

The appeal also contends the court denied a motion to postpone the trial after the state produced more than 4,300 pages of medical records 21 days before trial, which prevented the defense from fully reviewing the material.

"The Appellant needed time to have an expert examine the (not yet produced) medical records and determine if they contained any Brady/Exculpatory evidence to be used in the Appellant's defense in this case," the appeal brief states.

Boyett is serving time at the Hobby Unit, a women's state prison in Marlin, about 30 miles southeast of Waco.